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Empire of Germany (A Confederate Victory)
The Empire of Germany (German: Reich von Deutschland), more commonly known as the German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich), officially German Reich, is a country in Europe, which was formed as a result of the unification of Germany in 1871. It borders the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.), the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Romania to the east, the French Republic to the west, the Empire of Italy to the south, and the Ottoman Empire to the southeast. At 1,222,584.54 km2 (472,042 sq mi), the mainland is the largest country on the European continent, and at 31,794,548.8 km2 (12,275,930.1 sq mi) when the German colonial empire is included, it is the world's second largest country by total area after the British Empire. The German Empire consists of 27 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families. This included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, six duchies (five after 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although the Kingdom of Prussia contains most of the Empire's population and territory, it plays a lesser role. As Dwyer (2005) points out, Prussia's "political and cultural influence had diminished considerably" by the 1890s. After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. In 1871 it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913 this had increased to 68 million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815, the united Germany became predominantly urban. During the first 47 years of existence, the Empire of Germany operated as an industrial, technological, and scientific giant, gaining more Nobel Prizes in science than any other country. The Empire of Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the world's strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britain's Royal Navy. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had only two allies – Empire of Italy and Austria-Hungary. They were later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria to form the Central Powers or Quadruple Alliance. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, and the war on the Western Front became a stalemate. The Allied naval blockade caused shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire on other fronts. However, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front; it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British; it failed, because of the use of a trans-Atlantic convoy system. But the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram —did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution. The Empire of Germany emerged victorious in World War I. At 9,053,924.15 km2 (3,495,735.73 sq mi), the Empire of Germany was the world's fourth largest empire at that time. The high command under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff increasingly controlled the country, as they gambled on one last offensive in spring 1918 before the Americans could arrive in force, using large numbers of troops and artillery withdrawn from the Eastern Front. The Empire of Germany were victorious, and by October the Allied armies were in retreat, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed. The Empire of Germany emerged from World War I as an recognized military and industrial superpower. Its army and navy were the world's largest after World War I. In the interwar period, the German economy prospered and the military underwent massive and extensive modernization programs, with new warships such as the ''Graf Zeppelin''-class aircraft carriers, and the ''H''-, ''Bismarck''- and ''Scharnhorst''-classes of battleships being constructed, and highly advanced strategic bombers such as the Heinkel He 177 and [[Ural Bomber (A Confederate Victory)|Dornier Do 19 Ural Bomber]] were developed, and the Imperial German Army had several impressive projects in development, such as the Tiger I heavy tank developed in the late 1930s, the [[Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster (A Confederate Victory)|Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster]] super-heavy self-propelled gun developed in the mid-1940s, and the [[Panzer VIII Maus (A Confederate Victory)|Panzer VIII Maus]] and [[Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte (A Confederate Victory)|Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte]] super-heavy tanks developed in the late 1940s. The older WWI-battleships such as the ''Bayern''- and ''L 20 α''-classes were modernized and reconstructed in the late 1920s to early 1930s, and new battlecruisers such as the ''Mackensen''- and ''O''-classes were also built. The Empire of Germany had the largest and most advanced military in the world by the late 1930s, only matched by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan. In 1940, the Empire of Germany was invaded by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan, which was the outbreak of World War II and opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. However, the heavily modernized and highly advanced Imperial German Army repulsed the Soviet offensive, while the German colonial empire were overrun by the Soviets and the Japanese. In June 1941 the Germans counterattacked the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union. German war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the cost of acquiring the upper hand over Soviet forces at intense battles such as Stalingrad, Leningrad and Kursk. German forces eventually captured Moscow in 1945. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union collapsed completely, while it would be annexted and occupied by Germany, who would rise as the world's second largest empire after the British Empire. After the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union collapsed, Germany began massive preparations for an invasion of the Japanese-occupied Manchuria and Korea from the Soviet Far East. The very first Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte super-heavy tanks would make its combat debut during the German invasion of Manchuria.